Believing in Me
by mayfan
Summary: Ash has his final match in the Hoen league against Gary tomorrow, but does he believe he can do it? With the help ofa special someone he finds out he can do anything. AAMayL oneshot.


**Believing in Me**

-A one-shot AAMayL

Ages-

Ash-13

May-12

Max-8

Brock-21

Gary- 14

Mark- 17

Me: "Ok, just a warning, this is an advanceshipping fic! People who are against this shipping should back away while they're ahead of themselves. Also, we haven't seen or heard from Gary since the end of Master Quest so I made up his team. And I also-"

Ash: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up and get on with it already!"

Me: You shut up Ash! Or else…

Ash: sarcastic Or else what? Is the evil authoress gonna hit me with her all mighty writing pen?

Me: Evil grin Actually, I was thinking more in the terms of erasing you from the story and maybe making this a contestshipping fic. shows a newly written script to a frightened looking Ash Now do the disclaimer!"

Ash: "Fine! Arielle does not own pokemon and never will. muttering Thank God."

Me: "What was that?"

Ash: nervous "Uh, nothing! One to the story!"

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It's a clear starry night and tomorrow would be the last battle of this year's Hoen league tournament. The six on six battle would be between long time rivals Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak from Pallet town. Thus we turn our story to the pokemon center where Ash's mother, Delia Ketchum, and Professor Samuel Oak had just arrived for the battle taking place the next day. However despite the fact that his traveling companions were there, along with Gary, happily talking, Ash wasn't. And this is where we'll start.

"Now where's my little Ash?" Delia asked worriedly, " I told him we'd be here."

"Haven't seen him," Max replied.

"Not since dinner at least," Brock added in.

"He probably chickened out of the match tomorrow," Gary smirked, "I knew he would."

"Hey!" May shouted angrily making everyone look at her, "I know Ash and he would never back down from a challenge!" She blushed slightly but her sapphire eyes were still blazing.

"Yeah, May's right!" Max said, "He wouldn't back down because he can beat you like fire burning grass!"

May sweat dropped, "And yet another true but lame statement from Max," she stated, although nobody had heard her. The a sudden thought came across her mind, "Wait, I think I know where he is!" she burst out while everybody turned to her with quizzical expressions, "I'll be right back." and with that, she ran out the front door.

"Ok, that was weird," Max stated.

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With May…

May walked on for a few minutes before she saw him. On top of a hill, Ash was lying in the grass gazing up at the starry sky. This was the same place she had found him after the last match earlier today. May sat down next to him and laid back.

"Whacha doin Ashy?" May asked playfully, sounding like a little kid trying to get their parent's attention.

"Thinking," Ash replied simply, though he slightly flinched when he heard her say his name like that.

May giggled, "That's a first," she said, "What're you thinking about?"

Ash sat up and sighed, "About the match tomorrow," he replied but paused before adding, "I don't think I can do it."

May bolted upright, "Ok, who are you and what have you done with Ash!" She exclaimed, "Because the Ash I know wouldn't back down to any challenge no matter what it was! You've beat Gary before and you can do it again!"

"But he's gotten stronger. The last time I beat him was just luck I guess," he told her, "He has a lot more pokemon than I do, and they're all a lot stronger than mine. I just can't do it."

May got up and moved in front of Ash. She gripped her hands firmly onto his shoulders, she looked angry. "Now you listen to me Ash Ketchum! I don't want you to ever say that again! He may have gotten stronger, but you have to!" She told him, "He may have a bigger range of pokemon but you have a bigger heart than he does, and that's all that matters."

"But I-" Ash started to say.

"But nothing Ash!" May exclaimed, but the smiled warmly as she spoke more softly, "You're the best trainer I know Ash, and even if you don't win, you'll always be number one in my book. You're my best friend and I believe in you." she told him even though she wished he was more.

"And besides," May said moving her hands to her lap while grinning at him, "I bet Pikachu and the others wanna fight alongside their usually big headed trainer."

Ash chuckled, "Oh? And what's that supposed to mean?" he asked playfully.

"It means," she said pushing him to the ground while starting to tickle him, "That your ego's to big for your own good," she laughed.

"Ha ah hahahahah! Oh come on! hahhaaha! You know- ahhahhaha! I'm really- hahaha ticklish!" he managed to say in between bursts of laughter. Tears were now rolling down his face. He then pulled her down to the ground, and unintentionally, they started to roll down the hill together.

They stopped in a soft patch of grass at the bottom. Ash was on top of May and they were both blushing furiously. Ash then unexpectantly gave May a short but sweet kiss on the lips before getting up and turning his back to her while straightening his hat.

"We should probably get back to Brock and Max," Ash said still not looking at her, but instead looking into the stars trying to hide his beat red face.

"And your Mom and Professor Oak to," May added blushing slightly as she picked herself off the ground.

Ash slapped his forehead, "Crap!" he said, "I forgot they were coming! Mom's gonna chew my head off for not being there!" And without notice, he grabbed May's hand and started running towards the pokemon center with May struggling to keep up behind him.

At long last the made it to the doors of the pokemon center and walked in.

"I found him!" May called out proudly pointing to him when they found the group.

"Took you long enough," Max said snickering, "I bet that's cause you were kissing with your boyfriend!" he teased.

"He's not my boyfriend!" May exclaimed, "I just got a little lost, that's all," she told him.

"Right," he sarcastically muttered to himself.

"Well I don't care how long it took her to find him," Delia stated as she hugged her son, "I'm just glad my little Ashy Washy is here."

"Mom, you suffocating me!" Ash managed to say.

"Oh, sorry sweetie," Delia replied releasing Ash from her grip. But then all of the sudden Nurse Joy came rushing up to them.

"Are you Ash Ketchum?" she asked Ash uncertainly.

"Yeah," Ash replied with a blank look on his face.

"I have a message here for you," she told him before handing him a note and running to the desk to tend to a young girl with a hurt Vulpix.

Ash unfolded the small piece of paper and read it out loud to everyone, _"Ash, I'm not going to say who I am, it's a surprise. I'll walk through the doors at 9 pm and meet you. I hope that you will remember me. Sincerely, Anonymous,"_ Ash spoke, looking slightly confused. He looked at the clock, it read 7:57 pm, "It's gonna be a while I guess," he said softly.

"Who do you suppose it is Ash?" Max asked him.

"I dunno really," Ash replied wearing a blank expression on his face.

40 minutes later Ash and Co. were lounging on the couches along the walls in the corner of the pokemon center chatting happily to each other about the match and making guesses on the mystery person. Ash had gotten his pokemon back from their check-up with Nurse Joy and Pikachu was happily laying on Delia's lap.

Gary snickered, "Hey Ash, I think someone's a little sleepy," he said.

"Huh?" Ash said cluelessly before realizing that May had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He smiled at her softly and put his arm around her while he leaned back slowly against the chair as if not to wake her.

"Awwww, isn't that sweet," Delia exclaimed, "My little Ashy's got a girlfriend!"

Ash immediately turned a deep shade of red at this statement, "She's not my girlfriend!" he told her, "She's my best friend. There's a difference there!"

"Pika pi! (Ash!)" Pikachu then exclaimed.

"Best human friend," Ash then added sweatdropping.

"Pikachu! (That's better!)" Pikachu said happily looking pleased.

A short while later at about 9:01, a man walked in the door and walked over to the group. Ash couldn't recognize him because he was wearing a long dark brown overcoat and a hat that shadowed his face. Ash gave May a small shake, waking her up drowsily. She rubbed her eyes and looked quizzically at the man.

"Ash Ketchum?" The man asked him.

"Yeah," ash replied sounding unsure. The man took off his hat revealing a face that looked a lot like Ash himself, only much older.

Delia gasped, "Darrell!" she practically shouted cupping her hands to her mouth, "But where's-"

"Over there," Darrell replied without listening to the whole question. He then waved over to someone standing over by the door. He was a young teen that looked to be about seventeen, and had messy brown and dark brown eyes like Ash's. He wore a green and white t-shirt and baggy black jeans.

"Ryan!" Delia then exclaimed as she jumped up and hugged the boy, causing Pikachu to jump to Ash's shoulder from her lap.

"Will somebody please tell me what's going on!" Ash asked, "Who are these people Mom?"

"You don't remember me Ash?" Darrell asked him as Ash shook his head no.

"Ash, Darrell is your father and Ryan is your brother," Delia told him/ Everybody's eyes widened. Ash's jaw dropped in total shock.

"Ash… Ash?" May asked waving her hand in front of his face, "Hello? Are you in there?" She smacked him outside the head.

"Hmm?" He said snapping out of his trance.

"How come you never told us that you had a brother Ash?" Max then asked him.

"I never knew," he replied softly as he looked down, but then strengthened his tone a little, "How come you never told me mom?"

"Pika, chaa," Pikachu soothed.

"I'm sorry sweetie," Delia said sitting down beside him, "I guess I should have told you. I guess I thought that holding off on telling you was easier, but I thought wrong."

Darrell walked over to Ash a kneeled down in front off Ash, "I'm sorry that I never talked to you in the past and that I haven't seen you since you were young. Your mother and I just never got along so we decided to go our separate ways. But it was wrong of us not to tell you about that and your brother. Do you forgive us?" he asked.

Ash said nothing for a minute or two before smiling and saying, "Yeah. I forgive you." Ash sounded more understanding than usual. Darrell stood up and sat next to Delia on the couch while Ryan walked over to Ash.

"Hey lil' bro, long time no see," he said grinning as he extended his hand to Ash. Ash grinned back at him and shook his hand.

Pikachu jumped to Ryan's shoulder, "Pika!" It said happily.

Ryan stroked Pikachu's head, "So was Pikachu your first pokemon Ash?" he asked, "It looks strong."

"Yeah, Pikachu and I have been together for a long time," Ash replied, "right buddy?"

"Pika pika pi!" Pikachu said happily nodding it's head.

Max suddenly spoke up, "Do you have any pokemon!" he asked while jumping up, "Can I see!" His eyes were shining with excitement.

Ryan sweat dropped, "Yeah I do," he replied, "I'm a pokemon doctor in training. Come outside and I can show you my pokemon."

"Ok, come on!" Max exclaimed grabbing him by the hand and dragging him outside.

May sweatdropped embarrassingly, "Ok, Max gets way to excited about new pokemon," she stated.

Ash chuckled slightly, "Oh, lighten up May," he said, "When you were younger didn't you ever get excited about seeing or meeting a new pokemon, or having one of your own someday?" he smiled at her.

"No not really," she replied simply, "I wasn't really interested in pokemon. Don't you remember back when we first met?"

"Yeah, you were just an armature trainer who didn't know anything about pokemon," Ash told her while laughing. She hit him with her mallet angrily.

"But Ash sweetie, you were just as bad, maybe even worse," Delia stated, "I remember you going to get you first pokemon in your pajamas because you didn't get up on time. This time it was May's turn to laugh while Ash sat there with his arms crossed and his face red from embarrassment.

"Now why don't we all go outside and Ryan's pokemon, I'm quite interested to see myself," Professor Oak said. Everyone agreed and they all walked out into the crisp night air and over to where Ryan and Max were standing, waiting for them. May shivered for she was only wearing a short sleeve shirt and shorts.

"Are you cold May?" Ash asked worriedly looking at her.

"No, I'm fine," May replied smiling at her friend's concern for her.

Ash ignored her and took off his hoen jacket and handed it to her, "Here," he said smiling at her softly.

"But, you'll be cold," she told him, herself sounding concerned this time.

"Nah, I'll be ok," He replied grinning at her.

"May blushed and put on the jacket, "Thanks," she told him softly.

"No prob May," he stated, his boyish grin still showing upon his face.

"Ok, come on out everyone!" Ryan shouted as he threw five poke balls into the air revealing a Politoad, Raichu, Venomoth, Ninetails, and a Shiny Ivysaur!

"Wow!" Max exclaimed excitedly, "Is that a shiny Ivysaur!" he asked while examining all of the other pokemon stopping at Ivysaur curiously.

"Yeah, a shiny Bulbassaur was my starter pokemon," Ryan told him, "And I got him from Professor Oak himself.

"Ah yes," Professor Oak said, "I'm glad to see him being so well cared for, and that goes for all of your pokemon."

"Thank you Professor!" Ryan said happily stroking his Ninetails.

All of the sudden, there was a loud blast and all that could be seen was smoke, when it cleared all Ryans pokemon were gone including Pikachu. An evil laugh is heard and a large Meowth shaped Air balloon appears above them. And as usual, Team Rocket's motto is heard for the umpteenth millionth time.

"Team Rocket!" Max exclaimed angerly, "Give us back all the pokemon!"

"And since when do we listen to you twerp?" Meowth shouted down at him.

"Seviper, use haze!" Jessie commanded calling out her large snake pokemon.

"I don't think so! Combusken I choose you!" May yelled calling out her yellow and orange fowl pokemon, "Use Flamethrower on Seviper!"

"Combusken!" Combusken exclaimed while breathing burning flames upon Seviper before it could use it's haze.

"Good job stopping it May," Ash told her, "Now Grovyle, I choose you!" he released his green gecko like pokemon, "Use leaf blade on that net!"

"Grovyle obeyed and jumped up and slashed the net causing the pokemon to fall to the ground, "Vyle," he simply said.

"Ok now, Pikachu Thunder!" Ash shouted.

"Combusken, Fire Spin!" May also comanded as the two pokemon launched their attacks and they fused together causing a huge explosion.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" The three calendulas the blasted off into the sky.

"Great job you two!" Darrell told them, "You make a great team!"

"Yeah, thanks for getting my pokemon back," Ryan said.

"No problem," Ash and May said in unison.

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Later at the pokemon center…

Everybody had gone inside and decided to turn in for the night. Ash and May were the only one's up, or so they thought…

Ash walkout May in the hallway before heading to his room.

"Hey May!" Ash called out to her before she entered her room.

"Yeah Ash?" she asked.

"I just wanted to say thanks," Ash told her sheepishly blushing, "For the talk earlier and for believing in me."

"Aww, you're welcome Ash," she said embracing him in a hug, "Like I said before, you'll always be number one to me no matter what," and with that she gave him a small peck on the cheek and walked into her room, but spoke before closing her door, "You should get some sleep Ash, you need to be well rested up tomorrow." and then she closed the door.

Ash stared after her for a second before smiling and walking across the hall to his room that he shared with Max and Ryan.

Max grinned at him, "She likes you," he said.

"How do you know?" Ash asked him, taking off his shoes and sitting on his bottom bunk bed.

"I read her diary," Max replied simply.

"What!" Ash exclaimed, "You can't invade other people's privacy like that!"

"I'm her brother, it's my job," he replied shrugging.

"So Ash," Ryan said, "Did you kiss her?"

Ash blushed," No, we just talked and that's the truth, right on that hill down the path to the pokemon center."

"Sure," Max replied sarcastically.

"Ok, ok!" Ash told him, "I kissed her! But that was the only time!" his face was a deep fire engine red now, "Can we just go to bed now!"

Max snickered, "Fine," he said as he turned off the lights and they all fell asleep within minutes.

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The next day…

"Let the battle begin!" the referee shouted from the sidelines.

"Go Breloom!" Gary shouted releasing his powerful mushroom like, fighting pokemon.

"Swellow, I choose you!" Ash called out his red, white, and blue bird pokemon.

"Swellow!" he proudly called out, rearing to go.

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Several battles later…

(I'm not really gonna describe the whole battle right now because, the main focus isn't on the battle, well, it kinda is but I'm sure you know what I mean. ;)

So far in the battle:

Ash's Swellow beats Gary's Breloom,

Gary's Manectric beats Ash's Swellow,

Ash's Grovyle beats Gary Manectric,

Ash's Grovyle beats Gary's Lunatone,

Gary's Salamence beats Ash's Grovyle,

Gary's Salamence beats Ash's Torkoal,

Ash's Corphish beats Gary's Salamence,

Gary's Blastoise beats Ash's Corphish,

Ash's Glalie and Gary's Blastoise both faint in battle.

"And we're down to the final match! This round will be a tag team battle, so trainers, choose you partners and get ready to battle!"

Ash ran over to his group of friends sitting at the sidelines, "I didn't know that the last battle was a tag battle! I didn't even see anything that told that it was!" he looked confused as he looked to the other side of the battle field where Gary was standing there with one of his cheerleaders by his side.

"Um Ash, the head of the league told you yesterday after your last match. Don't you remember?" Max asked.

Ash sweatdropped and rubbed the back of his head, "Must have slipped my mind," he said, but then looking more serious, he took a glance around at the group trying to decide who to choose. Finally he spoke, "May, will you be my tag partner?" he asked.

"Sure!" May said happily jumping up to the challenge looking as confident as ever.

"Alright! Then let's go win this!" he exclaimed as he and May ran off to the battle field.

"Everybody ready?" the announcer asked as all four trainers nodded, "Let the battle begin!"

"Umbreon, I choose you!" Gary yelled releasing his dark type pokemon.

"Pikachu, let's go!" Ash called out sending Pikachu onto the field.

"I choose you, Croconaw!" the girl, named Marylin, said as she released her evolved water starter.

"Beautifly, come on out!" May shouted releasing her butterfly pokemon onto the field.

"Ok Pikachu, use thunderbolt on Croconaw!" Ash commanded as Pikachu launched a wave of electricity at Croconaw.

"Umbreon, Shadow Ball on Pikachu!" Gary called. Umbreon quickly released a large, dark, glowing shadow ball at pikachu sending him tumbling backwards to the ground.

"Beautifly, Use silverwind on Umbron now!" May shouted to her pokemon. Beautifly flapped it's wings hard releasing a large silvery gust of wind, forcing Umbreon into the wall behind it.

"Now Beautifly, Tackle on Croconaw!" May called as Beautifly flew towards Croconaw with a hard headed tackle.

"Croconaw, dodge and use Hydro Pump!" Marylin shouted to her pokemon. Croconaw jumped up to dodge the attack and hit Beautfly square in the back with a powerful hydro pump, sending her to the ground.

"Pikachu Thunder!" Ash commanded. Pikachu released it's most powerful attack on Croconaw, hitting it directly. Croconaw teetered for a few seconds before fainting to the ground.

"Croconaw is unable to battle," the referee stated as Marylin returned her pokemon sadly and walked over to sit at the sidelines "Now, let the battle continue!"

Beautifly was weak from the attack. Her wings and antenna's drooped and she looked like she couldn't take another attack when May yelled, "Beautifly, use Morning Sun!" Beautifly suddenly had a gold aurora surround her as she slowly rose up and regained energy.

"Here's our chance Umbreon, use Quick Attack!" Gary commanded as Umbreon ran at Beautifly with an incredible speed.

"Not so fast, Pikachu use Iron Tail!" Ash called to his pokemon. Pikachu ran at Umbreon, it's tail glowing bright, and hit him in the face sending him staggering back.

Beautifly had fully regained it's energy now, "Ok, now use Silverwind!" May told her.

"Pikachu, thunderbolt!" ash called.

Both attacks hit there mark and smoke was seen around the area. When it cleared, Umbreon lay on the ground with nothing but swirls in his eyes. Gary returned him reluctantly.

"Umbreon is unable to battle, the victory goes to Ash Ketchem and his partner May!" the announcer announced as loud cheers could be heard from the crowd.

"We won!" Ash and May exclaimed in unison jumping up and down and hugging each other. The rest of the group ran over to them from the sidelines.

"Wow, that was so cool!" Max exclaimed.

"Very nice job," Brock commented.

"Congrats little bro," Ryan told him

"I couldn't be prouder Ash," Darrell said smiling happily at his son, "You've trained your pokemon well," he looked to May, "And you young miss, are quite a fine battler yourself, but I somehow think I've seen you before."

"Well, I'm a coordinator," May replied, "Maybe you've seen me in a pokemon contest somewhere?"

"Oh Yeah!" Ryan said, "Didn't you win the Grand Festival?"

May nodded her head looking proud.

Gary walked slowly over to them and held out his hand and Ash took it, "Good battle Ketchum, but next time you won't be so lucky," he released his grip and with that he walked away.

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About 20 minutes later Ash is being awarded his trophy and is put on the stage to say a speech to everyone.

""First off, I would like to thanks all of my friends and family for always sticking by my side and helping me. You guys are the best! Next I would like to give credit and thanks to all of my pokemon. They battled so hard out there and never gave up, I could have never even done this without them. And one last thing," Ash said, pausing for a minute, "I would like to thank my best friend May Maple for always being there for me and for helping me win the battle earlier today. And I just wanted to say," he paused again, "That I love you May, with all my heart and I'd do anything for you," Ash said as the crowd sighed and cooed, "That's all," he finished as he set down the microphone and walked off the stage and over to his friends and family.

May stepped out in front of the group holding her hands to her chest, "Did you really mean that Ash?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he replied quietly.

"That was the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me and…" she took a deep breath, "I love you to." She then put her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately and he kissed her back.

From a short distance the group of people watched the young couple happy and smiling for them.

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Me- "Well, how was it?"

Ash- "Do you have to ask that all the time?"

Me- "Well, I wanna know what people think."

Ash- "Yeah, well it gets really irritating after a while so could you just shut up and skip it?"

Me- hits Ash on head with a mallet

Ash- dazed Ugh… Review! drops to ground


End file.
